Mignagola
A Sad Story of War
The massacre of the Mignagola paper mill is one of the saddest pages in Italian history, which took place in the last days of World War II. Partisan elements of the Garibaldi Brigades committed a criminal act against numerous soldiers of the Italian Social Republic and fascist or presumed fascist civilians rounded up in the area.
The events
In the last days of the war, the group of partisans set up an improvised detention center at the "Cartiera Burgo" of Mignagola di Carbonera (Treviso), where numerous people, many of them civilians, were incarcerated and often killed. Some of them were brutally tortured. It is believed that not all of the bodies were found, as they were hidden, buried in hidden places, burned in the paper mill ovens, or dissolved in acid. According to the testimony of former partisan Aldo Tognana, many bodies were thrown into the Sile River.
The Collotti gang
On April 27, an armed gang led by Gaetano Collotti, consisting of seven people, was seized at a checkpoint in Olmi-San Floriano di San Biagio di Callalta. They were all taken to the Mignagola paper mill and eliminated, including the pregnant woman.
The intervention of the clergy
On April 29, the priest Don Giovanni Piliego went to the paper mill to confess the prisoners. But the next day, he learned that several prisoners who had been visited the day before had been shot.
This terrible event is an example of the horror of war, which leads to the subjugation of people and the dehumanization of individuals.
The Memory of the Massacre
The discovery of the bodies
In June 1945, 83 bodies were exhumed in the immediate vicinity of the Mignagola paper mill, but many other bodies were scattered in other places. It took years before justice was done for this terrible massacre.
The historical reconstruction
The Civil and Criminal Court of Treviso opened an investigation file and many witnesses were involved. The trial was held only in 1955, ten years after the massacre. The guilty were judged and convicted, including Gino Simionato, the head of the command in Mignagola.
The monument to the fallen
To remember the terrible massacre, a chapel was erected near the Mignagola paper mill. The monument to the fallen was inaugurated in August 1955, on the tenth anniversary of the events. Every year, a pilgrimage is held at the site in memory of the victims.
This sad story must be remembered to not forget the atrocities of war and to teach future generations the value of peace and peaceful coexistence among peoples.
